More Spelling

We continued our spelling with words with 'ay' in them (i am starting with words with the long a sound).

The mini booklet i made for sonshine.

It includes words with the 'ay' in them. He has learnt to spell simple words like 'day', 'say' etc and other words like 'pray', 'play' and 'stay'.

I have done away with the moveable alphabet because i realised he really didn't need them to help him spell.

I wanted to speed up our spelling and try to cover as many words as possibe. So since i have the Five in a Row books sitting nicely in my shelf, ive decided to use them for our spelling lessons too.

I made a mini booklet; inside are all the words that can be found in the book.

He has learnt animal words like 'goose', 'goat', 'bear' etc.

Biblical copywork

*spelling error alert*

I only realised after i posted this! Goes to show how bad my spelling is. :P

I am sticking to copywork.

Not so much for creative writing but more for honing sonshine's penmanship. What better 'phrases' to copy than the bible verses? I am hoping that as he copies, the verses stick to his mind and someday, he can readily recall the verses when in need.

First passage i am going to have him copy is Psalms 23. Today, he copied part of the first verse.

On another note, if there is only one thing i want my children to know about the Christian walk, it would be this; that it isn't about who they will become in future, it isn't about their 100% attendance in Sunday services, it isn't about how many hours of prayers they can clock, it isn't about how many souls they can save for Christ and certaintly not about how much money they can give.

It is not about how much they can love and sacrifice for Christ.

But it is about how Christ love and sacrificed for them.

There is nothing they can do to earn that love.

There is nothing they can do to make Christ love them less.

Because the love of God is free, it is unconditional. No, it is not cheap. It came with a price, with Jesus's blood. That is the grace of our God. That despite our evil selves, He still loves us & took our punishment on the cross so that we earn the right to His kingdom. Unfair? Yes, that is the grace of God. That is the essence of the christian walk.

Let no man tell my children otherwise.

I will gnaw at any man who tells my children that their worth in Christ is measured by how much they can offer to Christ.

*Fangs and claws shooting out*.

....Right, now that i have regain my composure...in other news...

If you are seriously thinking about homeschooling your child, i suggest you pick up this book:

But be warned, it is a very thick book because it covers from preschool years to higher grades. It spells out exactly how you can teach your children, with what resources and even how long each lessons should be. But not everything is applicable, pick out only the things that suit you. What i like about this book is that it has a list of homeschooling resources. I've picked up a few curriculum from this book. I say, borrow from the library- not necessary to buy.

Mandarin reads this week

Here are 2 mandarin books that i (not sure about the boy) enjoy reading this week.

I S B N：9787533258160

This book is written by a Japanese author. It must be a very popular book since it is translated into 2 (maybe more) languages. We own the English version and i thought it would be nice to read it in Mandarin too. Strangely, the interpretation isn't exactly the same as the English? Still, it is quite an easy read.

ISBN: 9787543479487

Another relatively easy to read book. I suspect it also translated from an English book. I like the message in this story, it is about loving yourself no matter how you look. Great for kids!

All About turtles

Sonshine was briefly interested in Turtles some time back and i tried to take the opportunity to do some activities. But i procrastinated so much that by the time i got to it, he lost the interest. MUST.ACT.FASTER.MUMMY.

We read up on Turtles. This is where I, yes me, learnt that turtles do not have teeth! Did you know that?

I have the turtles from Toob (which was what got him interested in the first place) and sonshine matched them to the pictures i printed from the web. I wasn't getting him to remember the names of the various turtles, it was more to let him know what are the different types of turtles out there.

Sonshine did some copywork. Besides the above, he also copied "Turtles are slow". I am moving on to copywork so that he not only gets to practise writing but also hopefully he would learn how to form simple sentences (which hopefully will help lay some foundation for his composition- this is my worst feared subject for him).

Continuing his practise on writing and spelling.

Books Galore!

Babydoll isn't very interested in Glenn Doman cards- much to my dismay. Although i know there are many other effective ways of teaching her ro read but that is really the only way i know how (and im lazy to research for new ways). Sigh.

BUT the fortunate thing is she enjoys our reading session. She perks up when i announce "Read book time!". Typically, before each flashcards session, i would read a few books. Once, i tried doing the flashcards without reading the books- she wasn't very pleased. Opps. MUST.READ.FIRST.MUMMY.

Her all time favourite book is the Usborne 'That's not my..' series. Her new found favourite are books by Karen Katz. I recently introduced to her Sandra Boynton's (my favourite author) book, 'Fuzzy Fuzzy, Fuzzy'- we both enjoy it very much. These books are interactive and she enjoys touching the different textures and lifting the flaps.

Lately, i borrowed a non-interactive book. As i was reading that book, the little doll reached out her hand and scratch the pages as i read- she was trying to look for flaps to lift! I thought that was adorable although that poor little darling was scratching the entire book only to find out there were no flaps! LOL!

She's also into opening books and turning its pages. I can always find her in a corner trying to pry open the books with her cute little fingers.

Now that we are reading to her, i find our library trips have become more challenging than before! We always max out all our cards- that's 24 books! And we visit the library every week! Yes, we read ALL the books- over and over and over again till i get really sick- that's why i insist we go change weekly! We must be a ridiculous sight after each trip with us lugging the kids and 2 very heavy bags!

Well, although our flashcards are not as successful as i like it to be, I'm still happy that she is taking to reading well- i sure hope it stays this way!

四五快读

Oh yeah. I have jumped onto the band wagon, i have joined the ranks of many moms. I bought myself a set of 四五快读. I have heard of it long ago but i never thought of owning it. So i don't know what came over me when i decided to order it- without knowing exactly what it was! But, no regrets.

四五快读 comes with a series of 7 books. It is meant to be a guidance for parents/teachers who's interested in teaching their children mandarin. The author promises that by the end of the series, the child would be able to read a typical Mandarin article comfortably. I am not going to go into details of the book since the bloggers at My Playschool.net did a great job- especially at translating the first 30 instructional pages of the book. But, what i will share is my personal review.

1) Some parents insist that only those who are comfortable in reading Mandarin should get this book because all of the instructions and guidelines are in Mandarin. Well, i guess if you want to follow all the author's instructions then, yes, you must be somewhat well-versed in Mandarin. But, if you are like me, you prefer your own way of teaching your kids, then it is not necessary to be that proficient. I never follow the way the author taught her daughter, i created my own to suit my son's learning style. Moreover, i feel that the author's methodology suits children who have been conversing in Mandarin or raised in Mandarin-speaking environment. Her suggested method will never work on my sonny. Yet at the same time, you must be familiar with Chinese words otherwise, erm, how are you suppose to teach your child?

2) I like how each lesson is carefully planned such that by the next lesson, the child would be able to read in short phrases and sentences and later in paragraphs. Each lesson is built on the previous. This way, it builts the child's confidence (and mine too)!

3) If you are not sure, i suggest that you purchase one book at a time rather than the whole set at one go. Sure, it is more costly this way, but it's better than buying the whole set only to find out that you don't have enough stamina to complete it! I only found out that the books are separately sold at Popular bookshops after i purchased mine. Otherwise, i would've bought one book at a time.

4) Some say that it is a MUST to read the first 30 pages of the book. So i made myself read my longest ever Mandarin related article, hoping to find treasures but i emerged none the wiser. I find what she wrote is strangely similar to that of Glenn Doman and Montessori books- i secretly think she is a follower too! So what she said about teaching the child with games and through play, that its important to stop while the child is still interested etc were nothing new to me. I also think it is not necessary to read through the pages. But if you need to read up in English, my playschool.net did an awesome job.

Right now, i have completed the first book. Actually, sonshine recognises about 70% words in the first 2 books. But i am taking my time to make sure he knows the new words. I am taking a mighty long time because i want to be sure, doubly sure, triply sure and then sure that i am triply sure that he knows the words.

I don't use games to teach him the new words as the author suggested. I find it too consuming to create games after games so i take the easy way out. I usually select two words per day or per week, depending, and show sonshine the words first by reading it to him. I explain what the words mean. Then i get him to repeat after me and tell me the meaning of the words. Later in the day or the next day, i take the cards out again and ask him to read to me. I do this repeatedly until i am sure the words are well rooted in his memory! However, at the end of the book, i did create games for the boy just to revise the words. This- i will share in separate post.


I bought my copy from Happy Cottage if anyone's interested. 

It's Valentine's!

Here are some Valentine's activities i managed to squeez in this week. Bear in mind i didn't do all the activities in one go, we do 5minutes here, 10 minutes there. With 2 kids, it's impossible to do anything for a period of time!

Bible verse that Sonshine is learning this month. I made it for Christmas but we never got to it! Since it's all about love, Febuary is equally apt to learn this verse!

I got this awesome idea from 2 teaching mommies blog on a fun way to get the kid to memorise verses. I wanted to download straight from their site but have been unsuccessful, so i made my own. The verse is broken into parts and sonshine has to put them in order.

Heart shape felt button activity! Sonshine isn't great with fine motor skills and tend to give up easily. As expected, he kept whining 'i cannot!' while doing this. But with some pushing- (yes pushing i was quite annoyed with his whining and was impatient and insistent -but don't follow me), he managed to suceed! He unbutton each hearts and button them back on. I am so proud of him!

And our recent crave- Mosiac! We make Mosiac heart magnet!

The finished work. I would prefer it to be much neater but i reframed myself from telling the boy how and what to do. I wanted to give him freedom to decide. But it was really tough biting my lips!

Incidentally, we borrowed this book without any planning it to coincide with Valentine's- i guess that God working in our homeschooling! Sonshine loves this book, and for me, it is a timely reminder about His love for me. :)

Homophones

Our visits to the library have been a little challenging these days. Nope, it's not like i have to drag him there- he looks forwards to every trip there. But now that the boy is older, he wants to choose his own books.

With both mother and son putting our desired books in the bag, we usually end up with an overwhelming pile of books to borrow. Not an issue, you say? It is, if we can only borrow a limited number of books- we're already utilising my card as well. So i would inspect every book he puts in the bag- to see if it's worth borrowing. It is funny because, my mom, who accompanies us to the library, knows the drill. Whatever books N put in the bag, she would take them out and let me see. With a nod, she'd put the books back and with a frown, she'd secretly return them without N's knowing. :P

Anyway, i digress. During our last visit to the library, he picked out a book on his own and i thought it was just apt for our Language week. This book taught us what Homophones are. N now knows that Homophones are words that sound alike but are spelled & used differently

The two homophones we read up are 'where' and 'wear'. I would read the book without N looking at the pages, and ask him is it 'Where' or 'Wear'. It was pretty fun and actually interesting to see if he knows which was the appropriate word.

Non Fiction Mandarin books

I love to read. But i tend to read fiction books and steer away from non-fiction books. Perhaps that is why im more dreamy than knowledgeable!

Anyway, i don't want my kids to be like me, i much prefer them to read a wide variation of books including non-fiction. That's why i make an effort to pick up not just story books but also General knowledge type of books for Sonshine boy. I think it's working, the boy has no qualms about reading either type of books.

We've been reading mandarin storybooks but rarely non-fiction types. I saw these books from online and thought it was apt for the boy! It's non-fiction and its in mandarin! Usually, i would be slow to purchase books since the boy can read quite alot and it's senseless to keep buying & buying. But i rarely find these types of mandarin books in the library so i decided to invest and keep it for the little one!

Oceans

Here's another Acorn book we've been reading. In fact, we've read its entire series on rivers, lakes and oceans.

I've always wanted to teach Sonshine boy about the different oceans but never got to it. He finally learnt about it simply by reading the book.

Here's our follow up activity. Sonshine boy placed the labels on its rightful position. Easy peasy!

Lego & a book

A year ago, the boy was barely pretend playing. I was worried and tried many ways to get him to do it but he wasn't interested. These days, it's a different story. He is SO into pretend play that sometimes it annoys me to no end, ironic isn't it?

One of his pretend plays involve books that we read. He would sometimes pretend to be a character in a book we read & recite the entire book.

This is one of the books we brought to live today. It's about a weird looking boy and his car,  how his car went out of gas and he'd to pump more into it to make it go.

We used our lego, built a petrol station & car and recited the entire book. It was pretty fun!

Learning new Mandarin words

We've been reading (and still reading) this book- i don't know why N still insist to read it nightly but it's boring me. As a follow up, i came up with this activity so that he can also revise the words he learnt. He had to match the action word to the correct body parts i.e we use our nose to smell.

I am satisfied that sonshine boy has learnt all the words in the previous book, hence we've moved on to reading this book. I like this book because we can learn new words on the household items like washing machine, air condition, shower head etc. Sonshine boy is liking this book too!

These are some of the new words sonshine boy learnt from the new book thus far.

Papa & the Moon

Sonshine boy is currently obsessed with this Eric Carle's book. Its about a girl who wanted the moon and how her papa got it for her. Just like a typical Carle's book, it has subtle science lesson in it! The kids learn that the moon 'shrinks' from a full moon till it 'disappear' and 'grow' again to a full moon. The creative lift the flap pages make the book even more interesting.

As a follow up, i prepared material on the phases on the moon. I shared with N the technical names of each phases as the 'shrinks' and as the moon 'grow'. Well, technical is the word, it was TOO technical for him. The only thing he got out from this was 'FULL MOON'.

We're still reading this book- it has been weeks (Yawn) but sonshine boy still find delight in it. After each read, i would pretend to climb up the very long ladder until i reach the moon (just like the papa in the book). And pretend to wait for the moon to get smaller so that i can take it down & pass it to N. The boy, pretends to be the girl in the book, would 'play' with the moon till it disappeared (just as the book says). He's had so much fun with this despite that we've been playing this EVERY night.

Ah, the simple pleasures of pretend play!

We're going on a bear Hunt

I read this book when N was little. He loved it then but the more i read it the more i wanted to put it away- because it was too long & repetitive to read aloud!

My good old sister recently passed me a brand new copy of this book & so i read to N again. He still loves it!

Since he enjoyed it so much, i let him watch the Michael Rosen's narration of the book on Youtube. It was such a delight watching him so engrossed and enjoying every minute of the clip. It's nice to see him getting absorb by a reader rather than a cartoon! Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytc0U2WAz4s Enjoy!

Books

When N was 6 months old, i took on a rigorous reading routine. I would read a set of english and chinese books to him three times a day. Sad to say, its down to just once a day now. :(

However, today, i can see that my effort has paid off. Not only N is an independent reader, he has a love for books. He loves going to the library and would bury himself in the books.

That said, N still very much prefers that i read to him. In fact, i rarely get him to read. But recently, curiosity got the better of me, i decided to have him read to me instead.

Now i know N can read this entire book on his own.

It's a fairly simple book with simple words. But i love this book because its easy for a toddler to understand the content.

This book has become a must read for N! We've been reading this every night much to my boredom.

I am please to know that N can even read the chunky passages on this book.

Here's another book N is capable of reading on his own.

Each reading page has a verse and N showed that he could read all on his own. It was really sweet hearing him read to me about valentine. :)

All about Collective Nouns

We've been reading a couple of books on collective nouns here and there. Through these books such as the one above, N learnt that words like 'sheep', 'fish' have no plural erm, words? He also learnt that the plural for words like 'mouse' is 'mice', 'child' is 'children'. 

As a follow up to what we have read, i prepared some word cards, one set on collective nouns and another set on animals. I place one set on one side and the second set randomly on the other side.

N matches them accordingly.

Read, read and read...

I have stop doing Language (both english and mandarin) related activities with N. Mainly because i am already satisfied that he can read an English book on his own. I am not big on phonics so i'm just going to leave it to his teacher. As for his Mandarin, again his teacher is doing such a great job that i am mostly hands off.

That said, i am still reading and reading and reading with him as i want to expand his vocabulary. I am also focusing on his comprehension skills as we read. I'd read a sentence and ask a simple question just to see if he understood the book.

Here are some books we have been reading.

Is it me? I find it really hard to find good simple mandarin books for N. The best i can find are books from Pelangi. I always look for books with one or two sentences in a page and these Pelangi books fit the bill.

I chance upon ELF books and i love them! It has simple and repetitive lines on each book- suitable for early readers like N. I especially favour its books because they are educational at the same time!

We've read a book on animals that live in a tree. I got N to read the book aloud every night and now he can name me the animals that live in a tree- all thanks to this book!

My first airplane ride

In anticipation of our holiday, i borrowed this book on airplane ride. It's about a boy who's visiting his grandma and his process of getting on to the airplane all the way to the touch down.

 We've been reading this book and N enjoys it very much. We talked about what we can expect from checking into the Airport and riding on a plane.

I printed out some pictures from the internet. These are some of the things we can find in the airport and on the plane.

N also learnt how to spell 'plane'.